Renegade Rising
by ventus101
Summary: Robin is going to be Slade's apprentice whether he likes it or not. He took Robin away from his friends and injected him with the same serum as him, making him a super soldier. Robin struggles to control himself, becoming the Titans greatest threat, whether he means to or not. Renegade rises - adopted from JP-Rider.


A/N: this is a story I adopted from JP-Rider and I hope I did it justice. As a bit of background, the apprentice episodes didn't happen so this is a different take on that arc. Please review and let me know if I should carry on.

Disclaimer: unfortunately I own absolutely nothing.

Renegade Rising

Chapter 1

Slade Wilson – the Haunt – Jump city

Slade Wilson was patiently standing his private medical bay – his hands clasped tightly behind his back. He was currently studying the young boy lying almost motionless on the medical bed before him. If it wasn't for the gentle rising and falling of his chest, one would think the boy dead. Slade though – with his enhanced capabilities could hear the faint beating that indicated the boy was alive.

It had been just under a week ago the Slade had injected the boy with the serum that had made him near immortal and Slade was beginning to get frustrated. Surely the boy should be awake by now but thus far he hadn't shown any signs of awaking.

When he had been injected back in his days in the military, he had been the sole survivor out of 20 men. Upon waking, Slade had heard their plan to create others like him to be mindless, expendable soldiers. The doctors seemed to think that his blood was the key to a successful reaction. Of course Slade hadn't given them the chance to test their theory – killing all of them on their way out.

Looking down at the pale boy, he doubted their theory – perhaps he should have tested the serum first. Robin was a mess; his hair has drenched with sweat causing it the cling to his forehead. He had dark bags under his unmasked eyes – he already knew the boy was Dick Grayson – and his temperature was through the roof.

"How is he?" his old friend and butler asked, apparently appearing out of nowhere.

Slade didn't turn to greet him; instead he grabbed a wet cloth from the bowl of water on the tray next to the Boy's bed in the medical bed. He wrung out the Cloth and gently placed it on Richard's head. He didn't know how to answer Will; for once in his life he didn't have the answer and that irked him. He sighed heavily.

"I honestly don't know Will. I thought he was strong enough to pull through, maybe I was wrong… after all he is only 15."

Richard began to tremble, muttering incoherently; though Slade could muster a guess to what the nightmares were about. His parents most likely; the tragic demise of the flying Grayson's. It really was tragic but Slade didn't dwell on it. If it hadn't happened then Batman would never have taken the boy in and Slade would never have met him. No their deaths had served a purpose, bringing their son into His world. Still Slade knew what it was like to lose family, the living family he had wanted nothing to do with him.

The nightmares didn't surprise Slade, but he felt for the boy all the same. The dreams were so vivid he could still remember them. It felt as if you were trapped in your own mind. Fighting to hold onto life. Your very body was acting against you. He knew how easy it was to give into those dreams – to give up. He almost did himself.

It was a ferocious battle between body and mind.

A battle, that Dick was losing.

Cyborg – titans tower – Jump city

Five days. That was how long Robin had been gone.

Frankly Cyborg was a mess, he hadn't slept since Robin's communicator had gone offline and the whole team was worried sick. At that point he figured there were two possibilities. Either Robin had gone off by himself or something had happened. He prayed that the latter was not true, though things were not looking promising.

Cyborg cast his mind back to the red x incident. That has set the whole team on edge. Despite Robin's good intentions, it had created an air of mistrust, cloaking the whole tower.

Still… even as Red x – Robin had gone out of his way to protect them. Some could argue that he had put them at risk in the first place. Cyborg understood Robin's actions – he in no way condoned them – but he understood them. He had blown his cover, most likely because he had saved Beastboy from becoming road kill.

Besides, Robin had always stayed in contact in some way or another. But now? He had broken his number one rule – always stay on the grid.

He had been arguing with himself for days. One part of him thought that Robin had gone off on some mission and neglected to tell them. The more logical part couldn't disagree more – Robin didn't forget and if it was some mission he didn't want them to know about, he would have put something into place to make it seem like he was there – make up some kind of story.

But he hadn't, and that worried them.

They had known for a while that Robin could get obsessed with a case. Slade was a prime example. When it came to that man, Robin wouldn't eat, sleep or socialise. He was constantly in either his room or the evidence room.

In some ways, Robin's behaviour didn't surprise them. The guy was raised by mister tall, dark and broody himself. It was only natural that he picked up on some of the Bat's traits.

Slade – he was to Robin, what the Joker was to Batman. It was as if they needed each other to better themselves. Almost as if – in some strange way, the two were made for each other.

Robin provided Slade with a rival, someone the man deemed worthy of his time and effort. He had made it clear how pathetically incapable he thought the rest of them were.

Slade, he gave Robin something to strive towards. He saw Slade as the ultimate enigma, the case the junior detective would stop at nothing to solve. Slade brought out Robin's competitive side. He saw Slade as _his _responsibility. In essence, Slade made Robin stronger but that wasn't the end of the story. Whenever Slade was involved, Robin became distant. He would push the team away and try to do everything by himself. He would become self destructive, rarely eating or sleeping, spending every waking hour doing research, piecing things together. Cyborg rarely saw him when he was like that. Hell even Starfire couldn't get him out and he was closer to her than any of them.

Despite his faults, Robin was a great leader and would rather die than let any of his friends get hurt.

"Cyborg, when will we find friend Robin?"

Cyborg looked around from his computer; he could barely stand to look the Tamaranian in the eyes. Her bright green orbs were brimming with tears.

"I don't know star."

She frowned, biting her lip as a few tears slipped down her face.

"He will be of the ok, yes?" She asked.

_**I honestly don't know Star.**_

"Course he will Star, he can take care of himself." Cyborg said, just as much for his benefit than for Starfire's.

"I have faith in our friend, I am just worried. He has never been away for so long."

"We'll find him Star, I promise."

Starfire nodded sadly, her eyes became dull as she left the room.

Things weren't going as well as he led the rest of the Titans to believe. He had no leads to Robin's location and could only dread the time when he would have to admit his lack of findings to the team.

_**Come on Robin, where are you man?**_

Robin –unknown

All he could feel was pain. The only time he had experienced any pain like this was when Two face had beaten him within an Inch of his life; even then it was nothing compared to this.

It was as if his whole body had been engulfed by flames. His insides burned with white hot agony as he stumbled through the darkness. He was unaware of his surroundings, focusing only on surging through the pain. He didn't know why he was walking; it was as if some unseen force was compelling him to move.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, please give a warm welcome to the Amazing, the gravity defying, the fearless, flying Graysons!"

Robin spun around, searching for the voice in the darkness. It seemed to be coming from everywhere.

Images flashed through his head.

The circus, the trapeze, the crowd, his parents –

A round of applause sent him crashing to his knees. His hands flew to his ears to offer himself some kind of protection.

_**No.**_

He knew what was next.

SNAP

_**Please stop…**_

CRACK

Dick yelled in agony, both mental and physical pain engulfing him as he collapsed onto his stomach. He trembled, tears streaming down his cheeks as he tried to get up, managing to get onto one knee.

"Hello Dick, I'm Bruce Wayne."

"Sorry about your parents."

_**That's all anyone ever is. Sorry.**_

"It will get better."

_**Everyone says that too. But it doesn't it never will. How can it.**_

"You're going to need a name, Dick."

_**Robin.**_

"Come and say hello to you're good ol' uncle J."

BANG!

_**No. Bruce, help me. I don't wanna die.**_

"ROBIN!"

"You got shot."

_**You get shot all the time! **_

"You could have died."

_**But I didn't.**_

"You're fired Dick. End of Discussion."

_**What, because you say so? You can't do this to me Bruce! You can't take Robin away!**_

"Go to your room, Dick."

_**I HATE YOU!**_

Dick collapsed to his stomach with his last words "Mm Sorry Bruce…" Dick sobbed as he succumbed to unconsciousness.

A/N : so what do you think? Should I continue? What did I do well, or not so well. Let me know. I love feed back so pleaaaassseee.


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